


Nursery Rhymes

by SolarEclipser



Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Adorable Baby Yoda (The Mandalorian TV), Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Anxiety, Comfort, Domestic Fluff, First Day of School, Fluff, Human Baby Yoda, ManDadlorian, Nursery School, Other, Separation Anxiety
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-10
Updated: 2020-11-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:15:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27494071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SolarEclipser/pseuds/SolarEclipser
Summary: After months of living on the road to protect a powerful child, Din Djarin is finally ready for peace and quiet. With an apartment and his job back, he's ready to settle and focus on raising his son the best he can. But the baby hasn't known anything normal, and the first step is to catch up on what he's missed.One day, Din sees the flyer for a nursery school group.
Relationships: Baby Yoda (The Mandalorian TV) & Din Djarin
Comments: 8
Kudos: 78





	Nursery Rhymes

**Author's Note:**

> A lil modern AU because this plot bunny would not leave me alone. Just some modern fluff!
> 
> My [tumblr](https://solarr-eclipse.tumblr.com/)

If Din had learned anything, it is that children were expensive, messy, and  _ demanding. _

He walked through the streets, balancing the toddler on one hip with at least ten pounds of groceries hanging off his fingers, and the other trying desperately to scroll on his phone while still walking without running into people. The city was at evening rush hour, the crowds becoming thick and constricting, and the toddler on his hip did not wish to comply. He wailed and cried at Din’s hip, face burrowed against Din’s shoulder.

He was tired, he was hungry, he was cold. “Shh,” Din tried. “Kid - please.” His fault, yes, for walking them out of the house without checking the weather. Yes, it was starting to snow. Yes, he’d forgotten groceries early in the week and had the audacity to walk past a McDonalds without stopping. Yes, he might be failing at his parent thing right now, while hundreds of strangers were around to watch.

“Pick up,” he begged, bringing the phone to his ear. “Cara. Pick…”

There was a  _ scratch  _ sound and Cara’s voice came. “Mando?”

“Hey-” Din looked around, teeth gritted. The weight on his arm was getting too much. “I’m three blocks from home, are you there?”

“Walking back from the train,” Cara said. “Are you okay? Where’s the kid?”

“He’s right here.” He huffed. “... Lost my key.”

There was silence. Then Cara sighed. “Again.”

“Yes, again, and I have groceries from the store  _ with  _ him, can you-” He adjusted the squirming boy onto his other hip, “-just try to meet us there, or before-”

“Dada!” the boy cried, and he reached for the phone.

“No,  _ stop-”  _ Din grabbed it away from him and brought it to his other side. But before Cara could give a response, the baby was bursting into tears again, letting out a wail like a warning siren. “No, no, don’t…”

“Daddyyy!”

“I’m close,” Cara said.

“Okay. Tha-” A warmth began to spread across his side. Din’s feet stuttered to a stop and he looked down, freezing. “... Fucking…”

“What?”

“He just peed on me.”

He didn’t hear Cara’s burst of laughter on the other side. He looked around, then shuffled to the side out of the crowd and crouched down, setting both the bags of food and the toddler on the ground. There was a stain on both his own sweatshirt and the front of the kid’s grey pants, and Din realized with a jolt-

“Why aren’t you wearing a diaper?” he demanded.

The baby stared at him with big eyes.

Din just stared back, then slowly brought the phone back to his ear. “... I forgot to put a diaper on him,” he said. Cara was  _ wheezing.  _ “I forgot to put a diaper on my kid.”

“Oh my God, get him  _ home,”  _ Cara said, struggling to speak between gulps of laughter. “Just use him to cover the stain.”

The kid looked at him with teary eyes, shivering, and the flurries were starting to get thicker. Din sighed and gathered the grocery bags onto one arm, then ended the call and shoved his phone into his  _ dry  _ pocket. He grabbed the kid onto his hip again, tightening his jaw at the feeling of wet fabric pressing into his side. The kid snuggled close against his side and he walked at a brisk pace. A few blocks later, he came to their apartment building. He walked up the steps and Cara waited just inside the entrance to open the door, letting them into the lobby.

“Cara,” the baby whimpered.

“How about we get you cleaned up and then some hot cocoa?” Cara said with a smile, brushing her hand against his back. The baby sniffled and nodded. They walked to the elevator and got on, heading up to the fifth floor, and in the elevator, the baby stared into the mirror as he snuggled against Din’s chest.

They walked in silence to their apartment. Din waited as Cara pulled her key and opened the door, peeking into the door before opening it further. They were met with a loud  _ mrow!  _ and Din looked down as Fish rubbed up against Cara’s shins. The calico cat followed along as she kicked off her boots. Din walked to the counter and set down the groceries, then turned and went straight for the bathroom.

“Fiss!” The baby reached out for the cat, making a whimper as Din set him on the floor and turned on the water. “Daddy, Fiss-”

“You can say hi to Fish when you’re clean.” Din huffed and stripped off his own jacket and shirt, throwing them into the laundry bin, before he started to undress the two-year-old. “Don’t let me forget a diaper again,  _ tran’ika.” _

“Yeah, Dada,” the kid mumbled. When he was naked, Din stuck his hand in the water.

“Too hot?”

The kid walked over and stuck his hand in, too, then mumbled a few words Din couldn’t decipher before trying to climb in. Din scooped him up to ease him into the water before the kid suddenly  _ shouted  _ and started to squirm. “No!”

Din jerked him back against his chest. “What?”

“Bubblies!”

Din let out a sigh. “Can we do bubbles another time?” The baby made a face, but after a moment of consideration, he nodded. “Good,” Din muttered, and he eased the kid in again. He turned off the water and the kid sat, splashing his hands until Din grabbed the baby soap. He was fussy until Din dropped in his boat toy, and from then on, was quiet and compliant. Din scrubbed him and his hair clean.

“Daddy?”

“Yes?”

“Gon - Gonna snow?”

“Yes, it’s snowing now. We can watch from the window when you’re clean.” Then he added, “With cocoa and Fish.”

“Okay,” the kid said and smacked his hands against the water, giggling.

Once he was out, Din wrapped him up in a towel, kneeling on the water-soaked floor as he rubbed him dry. The baby laughed at the toweling, grinning at Din as his hair was fluffed up, and Din smiled back. As he was dried and then wrapped, Din picked him up over his shoulder, earning himself more giggles. He carried the boy into the bedroom, putting him down to pull out new clothes. When the towel dropped, the boy hugged himself with a shiver, and Din grabbed sweatpants and a sweater.

“We’re remembering a diaper this time,” he said.

The kid nodded with seriousness.

He grabbed a diaper and the kid was compliant in standing still for Din to put it on him, smoothing down the tabs. He didn’t like being on his back for it anymore, and Din wouldn’t fight him on that. Din pressed a kiss to his cheek and then began working his sweater on. The baby continued to go with it, sucking on his fingers after, and Din got him into a pair of sweatpants. His shoulder was held for balance. Once he was dressed, Din gave him a hug and a second kiss. The baby giggled and turned his face away.

“Daddy!”

“Go ask Cara for cocoa,” Din said, and he got up. The baby nodded and wandered out the door, looking for Cara, as Din returned to the bathroom. He started the shower and shut the door, but not before hearing the kid’s soft “Cara?”

He smiled to himself, then began to undress the rest of the way.

When he was bathed and dressed, he walked out of the bedroom. Cara and the kid were both lounging by the wall of windows, looking out at the city below. He held a sippy cup full of hot cocoa in one hand, on his knees as he stared out the window, and Cara was lying on her stomach with her own mug. A movie was on the TV -  _ Nightmare Before Christmas,  _ he recognized - and Cara turned. “Yours is on the counter,” she said. “We’re counting red and blue cars.”

“Blue!” the baby shouted, pointing.

Din walked over to the counter to pick up the mug. He took a sip, then looked down as Fish brushed against his ankles, hovering. She meowed up at him, then began to purr, turning to brush against him again. He reached down to scratch behind a torn ear. There were plenty of bumps from scars beneath her fur, and she gave him a playful bite with only half a mouth of teeth. He gave her a tap for it, and she just swiped at his hand with the most disgruntled look on her face.

“You’re lucky we found you,” he said, but she just licked her mouth and watched him with a swishing tail.

He took the mug and stepped around the cat, walking over to the other two. It seemed the game of cars was already over, and when Din laid down on his stomach like Cara, the baby cooed. He crawled over and sat right beside him, grabbing onto his arm while he took a drink of his cocoa.

“Daddy, iss snowin’. Daddy, iss  _ snowin’! _ ”

“Yeah, it is.” Big flurries of snow drifted past their window. The cat wandered over then and brushed against the baby, stopping to sniff at his shirt. She then jumped, brushing against him harder, and he giggled as he held tighter onto Din for balance. Fish walked to Cara, bumping her head against her arm, and Din sipped his own cocoa.

“How was work?” Din asked, and lowered his chest down to the ground as the kid began trying to climb onto his back.

“Quiet,” Cara said with a smile. “Easy contracts. Might have Jas over later - doing dinner at Leo’s. She wanted to pick me up, but…”

“If we don’t get iced over,” Din said.

“I don’t think so.” Cara shrugged, petting Fish. She purred. “If she doesn’t come early, we might come back here after.”

“The kid-”

“He has a bedtime, I know.” Cara smiled.

“And get your own alc.” The kid laid himself along Din’s back, peering over his shoulder out the window, and drank from his cup. Din made a face, feeling drops of warm cocoa hit him before he wiped it away. “... You’ll just go straight through mine.”

Cara laughed. “Sure.”

She got up and walked back to the kitchen, Fish quick to follow, and Din sipped his drink as the baby laid on his back. The sun was setting, just a small white circle in the distance, only still visible due to the bridge that cut through the buildings to link across the river and split the buildings. It was getting dark, and he was relieved now that they’d gotten home when they did. Dragging a toddler through the streets and through the grocery store and then back home when Din had been in such a rush to not even dress him warm enough-

He let out a sigh, then turned his head. “I saw a flyer for… a nursery group,” he said. “Just kind of a playgroup. Two and up.”

There was a moment of silence, a cabinet closing. “You’re thinking of putting him in it?” Cara asked, the drawer of utensils opening.

Din shifted on his stomach, feeling the kid’s firm weight, and heard him starting drinking again. “He doesn’t know any kids,” he said. “All he knows are adults and not all of them nice.”

“Mhm.” Cara continued to move in the kitchen. “What’s stopping you from doing that? You sound hesitant.”

“I don’t know how he’d do,” Din said. “How he’d react or play with them. How he’d react if I left him there for… an hour, or whatever.” 

“Not… his  _ powers?” _

“Oh.” He paused. “Right.” He rubbed at his eye and looked out at the city. “Really just... how  _ I’d  _ feel leaving him there.”

“Aw, are you the one with separation anxiety?” she teased, and Din grumbled, but she made an affirmative  _ mhm.  _ “I think it’s a good idea. He should learn how to play and be with other kids. And he’s been with you  _ constantly  _ since you found him, or with me. It would be good for him to learn that you can leave him for a bit and always come back. Learn to be without you.”

Din nodded. 

“When does it start?”

“Already started, but I could still put him in.”

“Well,” Cara said. “You could reach out and talk to whoever runs it, see how you feel about leaving him with them. They must know how to deal with those separation fears, right? They could help you with it. Just ease him into it.”

Din frowned. He slumped down and rested his face on his arms, eyes shut, feeling the exhaustion of the day creep in alongside his worry of a nursery group. The kid needed socialization. That wasn’t the question. The flyer he’d seen was offering the opportunity to fill in that gap that Din hadn’t been able to fill on his own, and one day he would have to send the kid to school and how could Din make him suffer that without any prior knowledge of interacting with his peers?

But no part of him wanted to leave the kid with strangers, either.

“Daddy?” the baby asked, and Din looked up as the empty cup was held out to him from over his shoulder. “More.”

“More,” he muttered. Then he took the cup and got up, grabbing the kid from behind to hold him on his back. The child squeaked and laughed, grabbing onto his shirt, and Din carried him over to the kitchen before putting him down. The baby stood with his hands over his mouth, hiding his smile. Din gave his hair a rustle and set the sippy cup down, reaching for what was left of the cocoa. As the cup was then stuck in the microwave, he turned to watch the kid, who was crouching down to coo at Fish.

“If you’re sending him to a group, he needs a name,” Cara said. “One that he responds to.”

“... Right.” He paused. “What about… Brys?”

Cara looked at him. “Where’s that from?”

“It was my brother,” Din said, voice quiet. “The kid looks like him. He would’ve…” Din swallowed. “He would’ve  _ loved  _ him. The baby.”

Cara gave him a smile. “Brys is perfect,” she said, and Din looked towards the kid. “We’ll have to work on him responding to it.”

Din nodded and he took out the cocoa, taking a deep breath.

\-----------

That night, it was just him and Brys. Cara left earlier with Jas, another hunter, dressed warm but  _ fine  _ while Din had said goodbye in sweatpants and a sweatshirt, kid on his hip. Now, they were alone and dressed comfortably in their pajamas post-dinner. They put on a movie, made popcorn, and snuggled down together.

The baby was a sucker for  _ The Lion King. _

After the movie,  _ specifically  _ after a few minutes of pretending he was Simba, Brys took delight in tossing Fish’s catnip ball for the feline to chase. Din got back up and found himself another beer, cracking it open, and grabbed the remote. “You want to watch something else?”

“Lions!”

“We just watched the lions.” Din took a swig and walked back to the couch. As he set the beer on a coaster, Brys walked over, and Din let him climb up into his lap. “Something else?”

“Mmmm.” The baby curled up against him, cuddled beneath his arm with legs across his lap. “No, dada.”

“Anything you want to do?”

Brys stared down at his hands, then turned and buried his face against Din’s ribs, snuggled as close as possible. Din wrapped his arms around him. “No!” he said, voice muffled by fabric, and he giggled. Din smiled and stroked a hand over his back.

“Just sit, then?”

“Mm.”

“Okay, we’ll do that.”

He didn’t mind at all. He enjoyed his alone time and silence, an escape that had been taken away by the discovery of a half-starved baby being chased by Imps. A child so small had so many demands at any given time that Din had no  _ time.  _ Silence only came during sleep, during naps, when he was with Cara. Few and far between. Or when he was sick, and he’d caught a fever a few weeks ago and it hadn’t quite been  _ silent  _ when he listened to the whistling breaths.

Now, he could relax, just feeling the warmth and heartbeat of his child.

“What do you think about meeting other kids?” he asked.

Brys looked up at him, eyes big and curious before he stuck fingers in his mouth. “Huh?”

“Other kids, like you,” he said. “To play with.”

“Mm…” he blinked, then looked up again. “Lions?”

“... Lions?”

“Play lions!”

“Maybe they’ll want to play lions,” he said, nodding. “Or blocks. Or hide and seek. All the games you like. You could make friends.”

“Friends,” the kid mumbled.

“You’d like that?”

“... Mhmm.”

He was starting to sound like Cara. Din continued to rub his hand over his back until Brys shrugged him off and he stopped, holding him instead. The baby settled with that. “Do you think you’d like it if I… wasn’t there?”

Brys stopped, then, and looked up again at Din. “You-mmm,” he said. “You’re not… there?”

“If I left for a bit while you got to play. Then I came back.” 

The baby stared at him.  _ “Mmmm,”  _ he went with a questioning tone, eyes darting around before he twisted to snuggle closer against Din. “I’dun…”

“Would you be willing to try?” he asked. “With me there?”

The kid looked at his hands, gaze fixed until he started to squirm again. Din let him until he had twisted into a new position, back arched up as he sucked his fingers. “With you?” he said.

“Yes, with me. And if you like it, we could try without me.”

Brys did not look convinced. But after a few moments of silence, he nodded and closed his eyes.

“Bedtime?”

_ “No!” _

Din smiled and pressed a kiss to his hair. “Ten more minutes.”

It was two weeks later that Din stepped off the train with Brys in his arms. While piles of snow were everywhere, the platform and sidewalks were clear, and once they were off the train and down the stairs to the pavement below, he let the kid stand with hands held. Brys followed at his side, wrapped up in his warmest coat and gloves with his hood up. His new Spiderverse backpack was shiny on his back, full of snacks and extra diapers and a change of clothes-

“He’s not going to need all that,” Cara said this morning with a laugh. “He’s not going to summer camp.”

“Shut up.”

They walked to the intersection - they were a half-hour from home, in the outskirts of the city. It wasn’t the prettiest part of town but surrounded by a shopping center. They waited at the crosswalk as a cold breeze went past. Din looked down at Brys. “Tell me your name.”

The kid mumbled. “Brys.”

“Good. You know your full name?”

“Brys… Dj… Djarin.”

“Right.” Din squeezed his hand.

The light changed and they walked across with others. “Go!” Brys shouted. “Green! Go!” Din squeezed his hand again. But his stomach turned.

He’d called ahead. Spoken with the woman who ran the nursery group, and she’d sounded older with the voice of a businesswoman. She’d given him the contact for the woman who would likely be Brys’s teacher; her name was Sophia, and she was enthusiastic as she spoke to him. Happy to rattle off her credentials and experience, to ask about Brys and hear the answers, didn’t seem to blink when he simply said that Brys was adopted but it was a delicate situation.

“It’s not a problem,” she said.

Like Cara had assumed, they were more than willing to help ease Brys into separation. They decided on a Parents Day so Din could stay with him without being awkwardly out of place - and to meet said parents.  _ That  _ gave him as much anxiety as leaving the kid there. But today Din would be there and let Brys get familiar with the facility and the kids. The next time, he’d be outside of the room but in reach, slowly separating until both felt comfortable.

Din couldn’t imagine ever being comfortable when the kid was out of sight. But if there was a merciful God, maybe he could be the uncomfortable one while Brys had a good time.

The site of the nursery school was at the corner of a shopping center. The windows were covered with rainbows and clouds and smiling stars, indicative enough of something meant for children, and Din led them to the front door. Inside was decorated just as cutesy; the walls were painted white but covered in murals that reminded him of a pediatrician’s office. Straight on was a desk, and on either side of it were two doors labeled classrooms “A” or “B”.

“Mr. Djarin!”

Din looked at -  _ Sophia,  _ his brain supplied, recognizing her voice. She stepped from around the desk and walked over, wearing jeans and a warm grey sweater, light brown curls back in a ponytail. She stuck her hand out and he let go of Brys’s hand to shake it. “Hi, Sophia,” he said, taking a moment of pride in remembering when she smiled.

“It’s nice to meet you,” she said, “and this is Brys?”

“Yes,” Din said.

“Hello, Brys,” she said. She crouched down and smiled at him. “I’m Sophia. How are you?”

Brys stared at her, then turned and wrapped his arms around Din’s leg, pressing his cheek against his thigh. Din looked down and smoothed his hair back. “Say hi.”

“Hi,” Brys whispered.

Sophia smiled at him and stood. “Our parents and kids are all here. We always start with ten minutes of open play - it tends to help distract the more shy kids for when their parents leave.” She walked towards the classroom ‘A’ and Din followed, gently tugging Brys along who let go of him with reluctance, until they came to the classroom.

Inside was a low buzz of noise. Din stopped in the doorway. In the room were eleven other children Brys’s age, playing at various toy sets with their mothers, some looking through picture books, and others doing blocks or large puzzles. He realized, with a jolt - both surprised and not - that he was the only father. The rest were women and their children. He looked down at Brys, who stared back up, both with the same hesitance.

“Daddy,” Brys whimpered.

“Hey, Brys, do you want to build with some blocks?” Sophia asked, and she held out her hand to him. She pointed with the other towards the rug beside the whiteboard, where a little boy and his mother sat with blocks painted to look like bricks. “That’s Caleb. He’ll share with you.”

Brys didn’t look convinced, but he took Sophia’s hand and she led him over to the rug. Din followed, but Brys looked back and made another whimper. “Daddy!”

“I’m here,” Din said, and Brys held his other hand out. Din took it.

At the rug, Sophia crouched down. Caleb and his mother looked up - the little boy had dark hair and eyes like Brys, their skin similar levels of tan. His mother looked kind with dark hair but light eyes, younger than him. She smiled up at Din, and he forced a smile despite his discomfort. “Hello,” she said.

“Hello,” he said back.

“Caleb, this is Brys,” Sophia said, her voice warm and gentle. “Would you be willing to share the blocks with him? So you can both play?”

Caleb looked up at her, then at Brys. “Mm-hmm,” he said, grabbing a brick to stack it without further concern. Sophia smiled and gave Din a thumbs up before she got up and walked away. Din sat down in her place on the rug, but Brys didn’t move, watching Sophia leave. Din drew him close, an arm wrapped around Brys’s waist, and took his backpack and jacket off.

“Here,” he said, pulling over a few of the blocks. “We can build something.”

Brys frowned, then sat down in his lap. He leaned back against Din’s chest, looking uncomfortable, but he watched as Din began to stack them. Caleb’s mother watched with a smile. “Do you want to do something else?” Din murmured, but Brys just squirmed against his arm and then held his hand out. One of the blocks began to shake, then lift into the air, and Din’s heart seized.

He shot a hand out to grab the block before it could lift higher and brought it to the kid’s grasp, his other hand grabbing Brys’s arm. “No,” he said, low and firm so no one could hear. “We talked about this.”

Brys whimpered. “Daddy-”

“No. No powers in front of people.”

Tears filled the boy’s eyes. Din swallowed and the guilt threatened to swallow him back, but he drew the boy close. How to explain to a child that his natural abilities couldn’t be used? The baby always used his powers at home. Din had stopped blinking when a toy floated past, instead just learning to keep a closer eye on his possessions even when the mischievous toddler wasn’t in sight.

“Let’s do something else,” Din said, and he got up with Brys in his arms, grabbing his jacket and backpack. The baby buried his face in Din’s chest, and Din rubbed his back as he looked around the classroom. “Maybe… uh. Animals?”

Brys looked up. Din walked over to a corner of the classroom where no one else was, where there was an easel standing but with other plastic toys like a barn. Din pulled it over. There were “barn doors”, with buttons beside each, and when Din pressed one it made a long  _ moooooo. _

“Moo cow!” Brys shrieked.

“Cow, right.”

Brys squirmed out of Din’s arms and sat down in front of the barn, beginning to hit the buttons. A pig squealed, a chicken clucked, a baby giggled. Din sat beside him and watched with a smile. “Fun, right?”

“Fuuun!”

The animals were an endless distraction until another child came over. Din looked up, and a little girl with curly blonde hair was led over by her mother. The mother smiled at Din, and the little girl went right for the playset with painted wooden beads that were pushed along the colored plastic tubes. Brys paid no attention until there was the  _ cla-cla-clack  _ of the beads hitting the wooden base. He made a quick turn, then, and watched the girl.

“This is Avery,” her mother said.

“Brys,” Din said.

Brys watched Avery push the beads along. There was another  _ cla-cla-clack  _ sound and Brys jumped, whimpering, beginning to crawl back into Din’s lap. “Kid,” Din sighed, but the baby just ducked his head to watch Avery from the safety of his arms.

“Shy?” Avery’s mother asked with a smile.

“He doesn’t know other kids,” Din said. “This is all… new.”

_ “Oh,”  _ she sighed, tone laced with sympathy. “I see. It’s all scary.”

Brys watched the girl, cheek squished against Din’s side, flinching at every loud clack of the toy. Din frowned. He hadn’t realized the boy was so frightened of loud noises, but he and Cara were in the habit of being quiet in the apartment. Bangs were few and far between, while car horns did scare him but in an understandable sense.

Din stroked his back. “It’s okay,” he murmured. “It’s okay…”

It seemed the socializing was not getting off to a good start.

Din gathered Brys up into his arms to try another toy set when Sophia called out. “Circle time!” Din paused then, uncertain. The sound of playing stopped, instead replaced by the soft whines of children who did not want to leave the toys, but the mothers and children began coming to the colored rug to sit in a circle. Din followed the lead and found himself sitting on a blue square, settling Brys in his lap. 

“Thank you, all, for taking the time to come to parents day!” Sophia said, a bright smile on her face. Something about it helped put Din at ease. “Since we have a new friend with us, we’re going to go around and introduce ourselves. Then, like on normal days, we’ll have storytime and then snack time.”

That seemed to gather Brys’s interest and Din let out a breath of relief.

“So, Din, what do you do for a living?”

Din looked up. Snack time seemed the easiest affair of all for Brys, all the children seated at small table while their parents knelt next to them, and Din was  _ trying  _ not to feel a bit of embarrassment at his choice in what to sustain his kid with. All the other children had  _ something  _ healthy, graham crackers or fruit or cheese sticks, some with vegetables like carrots or even broccoli that the toddlers seemed perfectly content with. Meanwhile, Brys was munching on cheerios and frosted animal crackers, making a mess over the table and his own chin.

“Uh,” Din said, grabbing a napkin to clean up the boy’s face. “I work in... security.”

The three mothers around him - one was Emily, he thought, or that was her daughter. Maybe Vanessa diagonal from him, but the one beside him was Lauren. They all looked at him with utter fascination and their complete attention.

“Oh!” Maybe-Emily said with a smile. “My husband is in law enforcement. He’s a sergeant.”

“... Fun,” Din said.

“Is your wife working?”

Din paused. “I’m not married,” he said.

“Oh.” They became a little quieter. Lauren went ahead to ask, anyway.

“Is his mom around?”

“He doesn’t have one,” Din said. He paused. “... He was orphaned. Recent adoption. I, uh, live with a coworker - she’s… like a mom, I guess.”

That didn’t quite fit Cara.

“More like an aunt.”

“That’s so sweet of you,” Maybe-Vanessa sighed.

Their expressions towards him were all suddenly adoring, and their children stared too but in the typical stare of young children. Din shifted with discomfort when Brys finished the cheerios and turned away from the rest of his animal crackers. Din re-sealed and slipped the excess back into his backpack and got up to throw out the other bag.

They made it through nearly all of the time before Brys had decided he’d had enough and wanted to go home. “No!” he shouted when Din tried to appease him with toys, even turning away from Sophia and trying to hide beneath Din’s shirt. Din could sense the growing frustration and sighed, grabbing the kid’s jacket to bundle him up again.

“Fine. We’ll go.”

“He’s done well,” Sophia said, and Din wasn’t sure if she were truthful or trying to make Din feel better. “You said he hasn’t really socialized before. It’ll be a process, even if it isn’t very fun.”

Din nodded. He got on the kid’s coat and gloves, tugging his hood up. “Thank you,” he said to Sophia. “For accommodating.”

“No problem at all,” Sophia said, and when Brys looked up at him she smiled. “I think someone might’ve earned a treat for being so good today.”

Brys grabbed onto Din’s jacket but smiled.

Din took Brys’s hand with the backpack in his other and they walked out, back into the cold. As they crossed the street again, walking to the train platform, Brys’s anxiety began to ease. He skipped along beside Din and swung his free arm. “That lady was nice, huh?” Din asked.

“Uh-huh,” Brys mumbled.

“Do you feel better now?”

“Mhmm,” Brys mumbled.

“We can have some hot cocoa at home.”

A very slow process, Din was sure. As they sat at the empty train station, the wind blew, and Din held the child as he curled up in his lap.

**Author's Note:**

> The names Caleb and Santi for some of the other boys are from CoffeeQuill's and Azertyrobaz's modern AUs respectively! Those moderns have been my favorites.
> 
> Thanks for reading!
> 
> My [tumblr](https://solarr-eclipse.tumblr.com/)


End file.
